Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and experience.

Sally, yes Elsie needs X-rays, as her limp, which had improved, has returned . She has 'issues' both with her left rear leg (the one with the ruptured cruciate) and now with her front right – the one on which she has started limping. I'm definitely going to try the CBD. I think a stoned Pie could be pretty entertaining, just so long as she doesn't get the munchies... 

CharlieBear, I love the sound of your neurotic neuro-vet, and he seems to understand what an honour it is to be personal physician to Da Bears. And as for your 'neurosis', goodness me! If anyone ever had earned the right...  Meg often has both laser and acupuncture in the same session. She has the laser first on her front leg and shoulder, and then the acupuncture after to ease the knots of tension in her spine. If her spine's not too bad , then she'll just have the laser.  Elsie usually just has laser on her knee, her back and her dodgy front leg, but if needed she'll have acupuncture too. I think the acupuncture is more intense. That's just my impression. They both have an obvious impact on Elsie and Meg (though different dogs do react differently). Before her amp, Meg used to go in limping and come out walking (almost) normally. They also leave her seriously chilled, which is a bonus, although about one session in five, sends her manic instead, which isn't.

Alison, you don't need a prescription in the UK to buy CBD oil for dogs; you can buy it quite legally online. I would want to discuss it with my vet though, obviously, to see what they thought and to check that there were no contraindications. It sounds like that's maybe not the same situation in California. I do know what you mean about fireworks. It's early November for us, round 'Guy Fawkes night'. Elsie and Meg are actually fine, completely unbothered by the noise. But my Billie used to sit and tremble, and nothing would console her. You could feel her heart racing in her chest. I have friends whose dogs have similar issues. They've tried Zylkene, Adaptil and heaven knows what, but generally they don't seem to be very effective.

Tina, the Metacam decision was not made on the basis of X-rays, but on clinical examination and close observation of Meg's movement and behaviour. Every situation is different and obviously you make a decision according to the situation you're in. In Meg's case, she has had serious osteo issues for at least five years, and very probably for her whole life. She had bilateral elbow dysplasia, arthritis (end stage in the leg she lost, moderate in the remaining one) and bilateral IOHC (a condition in which the centre of the humerus is hollow instead of solid bone, which places tremendous stress on the joint, and in the case of the leg she lost caused her elbow to spontaneously explode).

As far as I'm concerned, she has already spent far too much of her life in pain, a situation for which I must bear at least a degree of responsibility, as I did not realise how advanced the end stage arthritis had got. I'll spare you the whole sorry story, but suffice to say that I will NEVER forget Meg's reaction when we tried her on Metacam (this is pre amp) just to see if it would make a difference. To be clear, she was not at this point showing ANY reluctance to exercise, quite the opposite in fact, she demanded her walks, and often tried to find ways to extend them and she loved above all to chase things (now, of course, I realise, that adrenalin is a highly effective pain killer, back then I thought she must be feeling fine), the single clue was that I thought perhaps she was limping very slightly more at the end of a walk than at the beginning (she'd been left with a permanent mechanical limp after her elbow fracture). One dose of Metacam and she was literally dancing all over the house, getting toys from her toy box and throwing them around, her joy at this sudden relief from the pain I hadn't even realised she was in was truly heartbreaking.

So, while I obviously do not want to give Meg any more meds than she needs, I will give her whatever she needs for a pain free life today. She has now been on Metacam for more than two years straight (apart from a short period after her amp, when she seemed to be doing fine without it), and so far, her blood tests etc. reveal no negative effect on her system. That may change in the future, I realise, but lots of things may change in the future. Her remaining elbow could explode tomorrow. All I can do is my best to ensure that Meg is pain-free today. That's my 'take', but it is, of course, particular to our specific situation. Re the stomach issue, no, I've never given her anything. Perhaps I should? But she's never had any problems.

I agree. That makes total sense. The only way you can really tell is to try both with and without and then see if it makes a difference. If it made very little in Meg's case, then I'd probably be inclined to do likewise.

 I didn't mean to imply that it's wrong to put Meg on Metacam, quite the contrary. I am just once more so not sure what I should do

Oh no! I didn't take it like that at all. Likewise, I wasn't trying to suggest that Manni should be on it. It's so difficult to balance all the different concerns, and at the end of the day, all we can do is make the best decision we can, cross our fingers and hope for the best.

Thanks, Sally. I've commented on the thread re Maizy's shoulder, hope something will prove useful.

CBD oil now ordered. Watch this space... 

M, C & EP xxx